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Vancouver plans to overhaul traffic flow at south end of Burrard Bridge (with video)

Proposal aims to reduce number of cars on Cornwall Avenue

Point Grey Road, home to Vancouver’s swankiest oceanfront mansions, is set to become a residents-only street for the city’s elite under a new plan released Wednesday.
However, some residents living elsewhere in Kitsilano fear the area is being turned into a park for the wealthy, where home values will skyrocket as traffic is forced onto neighbouring streets.

VANCOUVER -- Another overhaul of traffic infrastructure has been proposed for the city's west side, this one a $6-million plan to reduce car traffic headed onto Cornwall Avenue from the Burrard Street Bridge by up to 30 per cent.

The proposal, slated to go to the standing committee on planning, transportation and environment on July 24th, calls for several changes to the intersection at the south end of the Burrard Street Bridge including:

- Eliminating one of three lanes allowing for through traffic onto Burrard Street.

- Creating two designated right-turn only lanes for travel onto Cornwall, which will be governed by a traffic signal.

- Changes to the crossing at Cypress Street and Cornwall to provide more visibility and safety for students at Henry Hudson school.

- The conversion of Chestnut Street from a bike-only path to a one-way northbound street for vehicles and a two-way cycling route to provide access to Kitsilano Point and Vanier Park.

The proposed changes are a bid to mitigate safety concerns for pedestrians and cyclists at the awkward intersection, where people on foot now must wait at multiple lights to cross Burrard Street. It will be considered independently of controversial plans to drastically alter bike and car traffic further west along Point Grey Road, according to a city official.

"The current configuration of the intersection at the south end of the Burrard Street Bridge is complex, it is circuitous for pedestrians, often requiring crossing up to five legs of the intersection, and the section of Cornwall Avenue between Burrard Street and Cypress Street is a collision hot spot for cyclists," says a city staff report dated July 16.

The suggested changes are intended to discourage drivers from using Cornwall, which the report says is overtaxed by vehicle traffic, and instead move further up Burrard Street and disperse on other east-west arterial routes such as West 4th Avenue, Broadway, 12th Avenue and 16th Avenue. But the reduction of one throughlane of traffic will also ensure Burrard Street isn't overburdened by traffic, said Jerry Dobrovolny, the city's director of transportation. He added car traffic on the Burrard Bridge has been declining in recent years. About 57,000 vehicles travel over the bridge each day, according to the report.

As much as 50 per cent of southbound car traffic coming off the Burrard Bridge is destined for Cornwall Avenue, while as much as 60 per cent of northbound car traffic originates on Cornwall.

The proposed changes will reduce the capacity at the intersection, which excedes the capacity Cornwall Avenue and Burrard Street were built to handle, he added. Construction on the plan would begin this fall and coincide with planned improvements to the Burrard Bridge and water main replacement in the area near Seaforth Peace Park.

The changes are being considered at a time when tensions on Vancouver's west side are running high over proposed traffic calming measures that would see a section of Point Grey road converted to local vehicle traffic only and redesigned to better accommodate pedestrians and cyclists.

Some residents in the area have been fighting the plan, saying the changes would create a "park for the rich" while surrounding streets would bear the brunt of an increased burden in vehicle traffic.

The city has a mandate to prioritize walking, cycling and use of public transportation over car traffic.

But the number of cyclists using Vancouver's separated bike lanes does not appear to be increasing, despite ongoing efforts from the city to court two-wheeled commuters with safer infrastructure.

Data available on the city's website show numbers are holding steady on the majority of cycling routes, with small fluctuations year over year.

The city's busiest separated bike route is the Burrard Bridge, which — no surprise — sees its highest rate of use in the summer months.

Bike traffic over the bridge has declined slightly in the last couple years, with 109,000 cyclists using the crossing in June of this year compared to 117,000 for the same month in 2010, 129,000 in 2011 and 108,000 in 2012.

Bike traffic in December, the month that sees the least use, has also declined slightly, from a high of 39,000 in 2011 to 31,000 last year.

Downtown, the Dunsmuir and Hornby Street bike lanes appear to be relatively consistent, both attracting 45,000 riders in June of this year compared to 40,000 on Hornby in June 2012 and 50,000 on Dunsmuir for the same time period.

The Dunsmuir viaduct saw 48,000 cyclists ride the path in June of this year, compared to 42,000 last year and 50,000 in 2011.

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